Frida and her rebozos

I have two rebozos from  Santa Maria del Rio (San Luis Potosi), known for its rebozo school.  Even though it was more than 30 years ago, I still remember the day I bought them.  The green one is still brightly colored (maybe because I wear it less)  but the red one is now a dusty pink.  The color dramatically changed after wearing it in Athens and I’ve wondered if it was because of the smog as it’s made of silk–nothing synthetic about it.

A rebozo is a long straight piece of cloth with looks like a cross between a scarf and a shawl.  It can be worn in various ways–as a wrap to protect from the cold or as a scrarf to protect from the sun.  The rebozo can be an aid in labor, a baby carrier, a knapsack, a cool-weather  wrap or elegant shawl. The rebozo is limitless.

There are many different ways to wear a rebozo.  Some examples can be seen HERE.

Frida Kahlo wore rebozos on a daily basis.

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Frida wearing rebozo on her head, 1937 foto via

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Frida Kahlo, agave et rebozo »

Above Frida is shown holding her rebozo up in the air as she stands next to a giant agave. Agave Americana is also know as Aloe Vera.  It is a plant that I have written about before HERE. Its gel has many many uses but its leaves are useful, too. Fiber can be extracted from them.  These fibers are used to make mats and ropes.

Agave is also used to make tequila.

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Frida Kahlo, 1951, and red rebozo.  Foto by Gisèle Freund

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Frida in the New York Hospital by Nickolas Muray, 1946. © Frida Kahlo Museum

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another Frida portrait by Nickolas Muray via

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via  Historia de la Moda blogRebozo magenta de artisela color fucsia y tocado con flores naturales, Colección Museo Frida Kahlo

“Who gave them the absolute ‘truth’?  There is nothing absolute.  Everything changes, everything moves, everything revolves, everything flies and goes away.” Frida Kahlo

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more related links:  Reflecting on Frida Kahlo’s Birthday and The Importance of Recognizing Ourselves for (in) Each Other + A COLLECTION OF fRIDA RELATED ARTICLES + Category: Frida Kahlo + Why Frida Kahlo’s fashion was just as political as her art

an exhibition I would like to see but will not be able to: From June 2014, the Fashion and Textile Museum highlights the art of the rebozo, a distinctly Mexican garment which Frida Kahlo was rarely seen without. A feature of Mexican dress since the 17th century, the classic woven shawl is enjoying a revival with the renewed interest in craft skills. Mexican Textiles: Frida Kahlo & the Art of the Rebozo looks at the work of 30 leading artists and contemporary fashion designers like Carla Fernandez, a Mexico City-based fashion designer who takes inspiration from traditional artisanship. These current designs are displayed alongside historic rebozos loaned from the Franz Mayer Museum, Mexico City.

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More embroidered poetry and Emily Dickinson

Poem by Montana Ray

Iviva Olenick embroidered Poem by Montana Ray  via  EmbroideryPoems 

Olenick’s Twitter Poetry project:  @EMBROIDERYPOEMS  I’m collecting and embroidering Twitter “poetry,” including my own poems via my alter ego @EmbroideryPoems. Tweet me @EmbroideryPoems or @IvivaOlenick and your pithy insights may end up in stitches.

more emily dickinson:

emilyardagh's avatarA poem for every day

“Why do I love” You, Sir?
Because—
The Wind does not require the Grass
To answer—Wherefore when He pass
She cannot keep Her place.

Because He knows—and
Do not You—
And We know not—
Enough for Us
The Wisdom it be so—

The Lightning—never asked an Eye
Wherefore it shut—when He was by—
Because He knows it cannot speak—
And reasons not contained—
—Of Talk—
There be—preferred by Daintier Folk—

The Sunrise—Sire—compelleth Me—
Because He’s Sunrise—and I see—
Therefore—Then—
I love Thee—

This breathtakingly unique and original poem by Emily Dickinson expresses the notion that love cannot be explained (and cannot, must not be justified) by reason or logic. Dickinson was an incredibly innovative poet, ahead of her time; although she lived in the 1800s, the way she writes often reminds me of 20th century poet E.E. Cummings. This piece is a perfect example of that. Notice the way she…

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Huge, Nearly-Wordless, Embroidered Facsimiles of Emily Dickinson’s Handwritten Manuscripts, by Jen Bervin

EMILY DICKINSON

The Gorgeous Nothings: Emily Dickinson’s Envelope Poems 

 

Emily Dickinson’s Handwritten Manuscripts Embroidered below

KLP's avatarliterodditi

Emily Dickinson’s poems went unpublished during her life and for decades after her death. When they were published, nearly all of her creative, idiosyncratic punctuation and personal notation marks were deleted or changed to more familiar, standardized, comfortable, and boring marks.

Jen Bervin, The Composite Marks of Emily Dickinson's Fascicle 28

Jen Bervin’s huge quilts (up to 40 feet by 8 feet!) flip that script: she has removed nearly all the words, leaving patterns of crosses, dashes, underscores, and strikethroughs. Bervin’s pieces give prominence to the marks most of us have never seen.

Jen Bervin, The Composite Marks of Emily Dickinson's Fascicle 28, detail.

What elevates these past curiosity up to artwork, for me, is that they use craft and materials to prompt worthwhile questions. For instance: Are these marks as insignificant, as non-signifying as they seem, spattered up there in red thread? Or, are they a thoroughly personal writing method (and how would I feel if my notebooks were turned inside out and shaken for weird punctuation like this?) Or, are…

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Schizophrenia embroidery at The Glore Psychiatric Museum

Schizophrenia embroidery….the need to express oneself comes out in so many ways!

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at the Gore Psychiatric Museum there is a psychological striptease in the form of an embroidery…read the post below for more info

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THE AESTHETICS OF GENEROSITY: a man gives his shoes to barefoot bus passenger

Wow, what a beautiful story!   It’s scientifically proven that being generous is not only good for our souls but for our health as wealth.  Below is a great related story!

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